Day 4
Monday 2/11/2015
Well first off I want to wish my girl Madeline a very big Happy Birthday, I so hate being away for birthdays, and so wish I could have spent some one on one time with you on this special day.
But I did manage to have a great chat on Skype, this hotel had fantastic Internet, so at least that was something.
We then spent some stressful time ringing Australia trying to find out if our insurance would cover the damage to the car, I don't think we will be getting any answers real soon, and may just have to pay for it ourselves, let's hope it's not too expensive, the lady we talked to thought it was so funny that we hit a warthog I guess they don't hear that everyday.
So off we set once more this time we just drove a short distance to Walvis Bay, we had heard about these flamingos in a big bay and wanted to go check them out.
So we get to the water front and yeah there were a few, we took some pics and felt a little let down.
We could see a few more in the distance so decided to go drive around there and see.
Well we came around the corner and there were hundreds, wow it was such a sight, they are such beautiful birds, I could have stayed all day just watching them, but our journey had to continue.
So off we go, the nice tarred road soon turned to dirt, almost all of Namibian roads are dirt, we had been lucky most of the time but knew from now on just dirty dusty bumpy roads.
I know it seems we are in the car travelling all the time, and I guess we are, but Namibia is quite a big country and if you want to see a lot of things you have to travel vast distances.
We actually enjoy road trips, it's fun seeing all new things, watching the scenery change all the time, seeing all the wildlife, especially here in Africa, it just amazes me to no end.
And we have fun, I often catch up on missed sleep, we listen to books on a usb stick, we stop here and there and check this and that out and so on.
This trip was another long one, we drive through spectacular scenery through great mountain passes, crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, had a little panic moment when the car started making a funny noise, and we had to stop in the middle of nowhere and when I say nowhere it really was.
We actually had a pee break here, we were both busting and there was nothing around, it's alright for guys but us girls find it a bit hard, luckily no one was around, I did check for wild life first, and snakes and scorpions and such, but all was clear.
That little business taken care of we got back to the problem of the car, we checked everything, under over and such but could not find anything obvious.
We had been bouncing on dirt roads for hours on end, so maybe something had come loose.
We got back in the car and started off once again the noise was shocking, we were about to stop again, when the noise just went, either the bit fell off or it just fixed itself, we will never know.
Eventually we made it to a little town called Solitaire, it really was a one horse town.
It's at the edge of the Namib Naukluft Park, it was established in 1848 and was intended to be used as a sheep farm, but now it's just a pit stop for stocking up on fuel and water.
I think the population was around 90, they have a service station, a cafe and a hotel, it's decorated with old vintage American cars that are set amongst cactus plants, and sure has a lot of character.
It kinda looks more like being on a western movie set, than in the heart of the Namibian desert.
We had a bite to eat here at the Moose McGregor Bakery, this place is well known for his world famous Apple pie.
Did we have apple pie? No, we only read about it later...haha I so wish we had tried it.
We eventually made it to Sesriem, yes we finally made it to where we can see the sand dunes, but it's way too late in the afternoon, actually it's almost dark, so once again we look for a place to sleep.
This place is not even a town as such, just the gateway I guess you would call it, to Sossusvlei, which is suppose to be the oldest desert in the world.
After ringing around a whole heap of resorts here and with help from a security guard who suggested this and that, we eventually decided on Sossusvlei Lodge, it was way over expensive but it really looked nice.
You know the old saying never judge a book by its cover?, well this was the opposite.
Man it looked so good and in all fairness it was nice but for the price you would expect top of the range, well we walk up to our cabin, it looks great from the back go inside and it's actually half cabin and half tent.
Are they serious, but it was clean modern, and best of all air conditioned, so yeah we can handle this.
We actually had a lovely night here, there were a lot of people staying here and they had a fantastic buffet, where you could try any game meat you wanted to, they had it all, and yes including warthog, we were tempted to try it just to get back at the one, that ran into us...haha
At one of the other places we stayed at, I did try some Oryx, which was only a mouthful, it was not that crash hot, I'm not really a meat eater anyway, and I have to say I really did not enjoy it.
So here they had Ostrich, now this is something I really wanted to try, you would think being a bird it would have white flesh, but it's actually red and just looks like meat.
I guess this was the first bit that turned me off, but after the main chef, got me some garlic free filets, I had to try it.
Let's just say, it sure was different, maybe it was the way it was cooked, or not cooked enough I don't know, but I really had to force it down, and to me it still just tasted like red meat, I don't think I would be in a hurry to try it again.
The Captain had Kudu, and really enjoyed his, he even had some of my Ostrich and thought it was ok, so yeah, some people will eat anything...haha
You could even have Zebra if you wanted to, we didn't.
The dining room was on a terrace under the stars, and also looked out over a waterhole.
This place had no fences and it did concern me a bit, as to what wild life was around, and after reading how careful you need to be when walking around, well yeah it was a bit unnerving.
But all was good we made it back to our room ok, and it was so quiet and peaceful.
Well tomorrow is another day.